1980 Henderson... Abort Mission.
bgr
Posts: 1,691 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have been trying for 7+ years now to get the first 10/10 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson. But the dream has come to an end - It's not going to happen and it is getting ridiculously expensive to keep trying.
I would love to hear what other people think about these 3 cards. The (2) autos were submitted within the last year. These are the PSA Scans.
Option (A)
Option (B)
For good measure. A non-auto.
Option (C)
I am curious what people think as far as... (with an understanding that scans have their limitations)
- What grade would you estimate for these cards?
- Which card is the best overall?
What techniques does everyone use to review their cards before submission? What are you looking for? I do occasionally get a 10 on a vintage 60s,70s,80s card from PSA, but, while I'm happy, I wouldn't be able to explain why this ding is OK for a 10 and that ding means it's an 8.
Comments
Pics are too small to really tell, but A has touched corners on the back, so hell no.. And of course we can't know the surface, that is probably the #1 reason many seemingly perfect looking ones don't hit..... C is slightly offcenter top to bottom, which would be ok for a "normal" card, but not a Henderson Rookie in today's PSA grading world. Might even have the slightest of tilts.
I wish I was able to provide better images. My printer/scanner isn't spectacular (HP M477fnw).
My perspective isn't that any of these should (or shouldn't) be a 10 -- they all have their blemishes. If I came off as... I deserve 10s on everything that wasn't my intent. I enjoy talking about cards with people other than my wife and hearing their opinions. If there's a secret sauce to presenting images which can be more easily reviewed I'm here to learn - whether I am capable... TBD.
On (A). That corner got chipped (blue paper peeled back) when I put it in the penny sleeve after signing. Usually when a mistake is made I know the guy who made it.
On (C). I think it's how it's sitting in the holder in the PSA scan. I agree on the centering.
On (B). The top corners are similar to the corner you pointed out on (A).
I chose (A) and (B) because they show a subtle difference in vertical centering - in a way which I've never been sure which is closer to optimal.
I do enjoy having high dual grade items in my collection, but the ones which I have pulled, had signed in person, and slabbed hold a very special place for me.
My opinion is damn it must be nice sitting on some amazing signed Henderson Rookies in PSA 9 grade. Getting a PSA 10/10 now days is almost impossible, you have a better chance of lassoing a Unicorn.
I was glad to give up on my quest for a PSA 9 or 10 Jerry Rice Rookie years ago. I can only imagine how expensive it would be to attempt now.
Welcome to the board!
Successful card BST transactions with cbcnow, brogurt, gstarling, Bravesfan 007, and rajah 424.
A&B are beautiful!!!
my favorite baseball card
collecting RAW Topps baseball cards 1952 Highs to 1972. looking for collector grade (somewhere between psa 4-7 condition). let me know what you have, I'll take it, I want to finish sets, I must have something you can use for trade.
looking for Topps 71-72 hi's-62-53-54-55-59, I have these sets started
(A) (78577743) was graded a PSA 7/10. This one looks like it should be a PSA 8, but it's not worth the hassle to resubmit.
(B) (80154983) was graded a PSA 9/10. This one doesn't have a shot at 10/10 I think because it's centered a little high up vertically. Everything else is either perfect or I can't see it with naked eye or 30x.
(C) (06376720) was graded a PSA 10 and is the worst of the bunch. Centering issues left to right, corners are worst of the 3, registration issues, some minor other nags, and coloring is poor.
I have 2 raw PSA 10 candidates left, but I haven't been able to decide whether I should submit them (and to who) and/ or whether I want to get them signed. The 1980 Henderson was a card that I used to hunt for in wax packs in the mid-late 80s when I was growing up in Wisconsin. There was a card shop on HWY 18 in Waukesha which had cases and cases and I would beg my dad to take me there to buy a box whenever I had enough for one - They would sell the wax packs for $3/pack or $80/box then.
I still love many of those same sets I did as a kid. 1980s topps, 1975 topps, 1983 topps were my favorites. It was a fun time for me as we lived a few houses away from Gantner on Beaver Lake and Jamie was our age. He was very nice and always took cards into the clubhouse to get signed -- we knew nothing about condition back then. Had I only known.
Fun to reminisce.
Well obviously the only reason that (C) is a 10 is because it was graded so long ago when standards were a 10 did not have to be perfect (or rather could be within the terms specified on the website of what can be a PSA 10) and re-holdered into a newer slab. Card would probably be a PSA 8.5 today!
I think the autograph placement and inscription on (A) are beautiful.
FWIW I always have a different instinct when it comes to signed vintage cards; they don't strike me as cards that need to be absolutely 99.99% flawless. What matters to me is the quality of the signature.
But yeah on the penny sleeve damage, I wonder how cards survive the dozens of rounds of cracking and regrading that some put them through.
Damn man, C is a PSA 10? Showing off a $125k card like it's 1989. Haha
Happy for you that you aborted the mission. Very difficult task.
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It was mostly tongue-in-cheek. My expectations were always reasonably low... approaching zero as it were.